The main factor limiting the performance of existing pyroelectric imagers is the thermal conductance between adjacent detector elements and between each detector element and the supporting and interrogating structure.
U.K. Patent Application No. 2163596A discloses a thermal imaging device comprising a ferroelectric slab bearing a common electrode on one main surface and a signal electrode structure on the opposite main surface. The signal electrode structure is electrically connected to electrodes of a signal processing means by conductors. The transverse heat conduction between adjacent conductors is reduced by incorporating each conductor on a bore in a respective pillar of thermally insulating material, the pillars also being effective to support the ferroelectric slab.
It is an object of the invention to provide an alternative thermal imaging device which avoids the use of such pillars.